Mohammad Siraj has sharpened his edge as a bowler in the last 1 year. His performance last year is proof of this. Siraj took the most wickets in ODIs for India in 2022. He took 24 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 23.5. His economy rate was also 4.6. Last year, due to injury and T20 World Cup, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami played very few ODIs. But, Siraj did not let the absence of these two bowlers be felt. Siraj’s journey till here has not been easy.
Personal life of Mohammad Siraj
Mohammad Siraj has done a lot of penance to reach where he is today. At that time the condition of Mohammad Siraj’s house was not that good. His father was an auto driver. He used to run his household by driving an auto rickshaw in Hyderabad city. Due to which the economic condition of his house was also very weak. And due to financial constraints, Siraj’s family had to stay inside a small rented house in Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad for a long time.
Mohammad Siraj had spent his entire childhood living in this house. Siraj’s elder brother was topper in studies. And Siraj’s mother wanted that, like his elder brother, Siraj should concentrate on studies and become an engineer. But Siraj was more interested in sports than studies since childhood. And often he used to bunk his school classes and play cricket. But seeing his dedication towards the game, Siraj’s father always supported him. He had a dream that one day the son would definitely become a cricketer.
Struggle story of Mohammad Siraj
Siraj’s father used to support him in sports, but due to the financial condition of the family, he could not provide him good facilities. But Siraj was well aware of the circumstances of his house, due to which he never demands for nice and expensive things. Even Mohammad Siraj started his cricket career not by taking training from any coach or joining any big cricket academy but by tennis ball cricket. He also used to play tennis ball cricket for a few years before starting his cricket career in Ranji Trophy.
Mohammad Siraj used to go to play on such a bike in the early days of his cricket career. Which he had to push many times to start. Father was an auto driver, so many times there was no money even to fill petrol. But, Siraj had such a passion for cricket that despite all the difficulties, he did not stop playing cricket. The result of hard work, dedication and continuous practice was that after some time Siraj became the best bowler in his area.
Siraj liked batting
In the early stages, when Siraj started playing cricket. Then he preferred batting rather than bowling. One day when he was playing cricket with his friends. Then a close friend of his advised. He should leave his batting and focus on bowling. Because his bowling is many times better than his batting. This talk of his friend sat in Siraj’s mind. From that day onwards, he gave up bowling and started focusing all his attention on bowling. Even today Siraj thanks his friend for this advice.
Mohammad Siraj’s debut
Soon the discussion of Mohammad Siraj started happening in the local cricket of Hyderabad as well. Siraj got a chance to make his first-class debut for Hyderabad in the 2015–16 Ranji season. Later, Siraj got a chance to play in Hyderabad’s Under-23 team as well. Taking full advantage of every opportunity, Siraj reached the IPL. After this, Siraj got the opportunity to make his Test debut on the Australian tour of India, which was his dream debut. He did not let this opportunity pass him by and performed brilliantly.
Since then Mohammad Siraj did not look back. He confirmed his place in Team India by performing consistently well. Now the days of this pacer have turned. According to media reports, at present Siraj’s net worth is close to 50 crores. He has been playing IPL since 2017 and in these years he has earned Rs 27 crore as salary from IPL alone. He has been retained by Virat Kohli’s team RCB for IPL 2023 for 7 crores.